


My Heart Burns There Too

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 12:12:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1982535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If this tent’s a rockin, don’t come a knockin.” She laughed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Heart Burns There Too

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written in the same universe as Pleasure is my Business and Before Sunrise. I might need a name for that universe pretty soon. The title comes from the poem that Ben Hanscom wrote to Beverly Marsh in It. I’m a sentimental freak that way.

Erin stuck the hot dog on the sharp metal tip of her stick and then put it into the fire. Dave walked over with a little CD player. He pressed play and Frank Sinatra crooned through the speakers. _I get no kick from champagne. Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all. So tell me why should it be true that I get a kick out of you_? When he sat down beside her, he got a hot dog for himself.

“Are you having fun?” he asked.

“I have to say this is different.” She looked at him. “I have no idea how long to keep this in the fire.”

“Just a few minutes. You'll know when it’s ready.”

“It’s beautiful out here.” Erin said. “Beautiful in that alien way but still beautiful.”

“Look up in the sky. All you see are stars. There's no buildings obstructing the view. You can't hear cars or neighbors arguing or the hum of televisions. There's nothing out here but you, me, God…”

“And Frank Sinatra.”

“There's always room for Frank Sinatra.” Dave said. “Dean is my favorite; I thought I had some Dean CDs in my bag but I guess I didn’t.”

“I'm more of a Peter Lawford girl.” Erin said.

“I'm not going to hold that against you.” he smiled. “So you’ve never been camping before?”

“When I was a kid we used to drive somewhere in upstate New York with my Uncle Mike. I don’t remember where it was. I hardly remember anything except for one time I was attacked by mosquitoes and I blew up like a puffer fish. We had to go the ER. And that was the last time I went camping.”

“I actually have my own cabin not far from here.”

“You have a cabin and I'm sleeping in a tent in the woods?” Erin looked at him.

“I thought this would be a little something different. I'm sure you’ve had more amazing experiences than you can count. I thought I would keep it simple.”

“Simple has its moments.” She smiled. “And I think my hot dog is done.”

It was hot on the outside and Erin hoped it was the same on the inside as she slipped it into a bun. She and Dave drove somewhere out in Virginia right after sunrise. He had fishing equipment, a couple of rifles, a super tent, and everything you'd need for a quiet weekend in the woods. They were on a campsite so they weren’t out in the wilderness alone. They carved out their own little piece of space with just the right amount of privacy. 

There was a lake for swimming they could walk to, and a river on the other side with good fishing. The air was clean and cool; Erin loved breathing it in. She didn’t have to worry about bears or coyotes, they weren’t that far from civilization but they were far enough to feel free. This had been a really good idea considering the long month she had. Work was as busy as ever. 

Dave was in and out of town so they didn’t see each other much. This was the first time in three weeks so Erin was content to drop everything and give him her attention. That wasn’t easy with her job. The weekends could be the busiest time but she told the kids and her security staff that they would have to seriously be on their toes while she was gone. Erin hoped they took that to heart.

“Did you camp a lot as a kid?”

“I got kicked out of Boy Scouts.” Dave replied.

“And that doesn’t surprise me in the least.” Erin laughed.

“It wasn’t entirely my fault but I was kicked out nonetheless. My dad and Uncle Willie used to take us boys out into the woods for hunting, fishing, and doing as men do. I learned to pitch a tent, start a fire, and survive on my wits. We hiked the trails on Lake Erie and would purposely get lost to use compasses and our smarts to find our way back to the camp.”

“Boys are strange.” she turned up her nose a bit.

“I'm sure some girls were into the same thing.”

“I don’t want to hear about girls you took to the woods, David Rossi.” Erin bumped her shoulder on his.

“My first wife tried but the woods were not her thing. She loved the water so we would go sailing or kayaking sometimes. But she was a workaholic like me; most of the time we weren’t doing anything that wasn’t in an office somewhere. My second wife was allergic to bee stings so she had a fear of the woods. I can't say I blame her really.”

“What about your third wife?”

“We weren’t together long enough to do anything but regret each other.” Dave said. He pulled his hot dog from the fire too. He liked them crispy. “This is a good fire.”

“It’s nice and warm. While I haven’t survived the night yet, the day and evening were quite nice.”

“You're worried about surviving the night?”

“I have to sleep on the ground.” Erin said.

“I'm not fond of that part either these days. I put one of those medium mattress toppers on the bottom of the tent. Then I covered it with a blanket and laid the ultra-thick sleeping bags out like a bed. I think you'll like it.”

“If this tent’s a rockin, don’t come a knockin.” She laughed.

“Something like that. Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“You never mentioned being married before.” Dave said.

“I haven’t been. I'm a bit of a commitment-phobe.”

“Why’s that?”

“I'm probably looking for something like my parents had, which I'm never going to find.” Erin replied. “I also work too much. A lot of men don’t like it when they're not the center of your universe.”

“To be with a woman like you, I think a guy would get over it.”

“I don’t like to brag but I am pretty special.”

“You are.” Dave leaned to kiss her cheek. “It’s been a while since I've felt like this.”

Erin cleared her throat and ate her hot dog. She looked at the fire instead of looking at him. It was hard to explain but she was falling hard for Dave. Something about him was different than every man she knew; and Erin Strauss knew a lot of men. He was just as cocky and self-assured as the rest of them. 

He wasn’t a special snowflake in any way. But there was something. The sex was good but Erin had also had a lot of sex in her life. Whenever she tried to put her finger on just what it was, she came up short. That only made her think about it harder.

“It’s only fair that I tell you that I have a job next Sunday.” She said.

“A _job_ job?” Dave asked.

“Yes.” Erin nodded.

“Um…I thought you were the boss of the operation.”

“I am, but sometimes my services are needed. The Richmond Symphony is reopening and John Williams is the guest conductor and artist. A good friend of mine needs someone beautiful and worldly on his arm. He prefers the company of women at least close to his own age.”

“Are you going to sleep with him?” Dave asked. He could hardly get the words out of his mouth. What Erin really did for a living was hitting home. It was hitting him right in the balls.

“That’s an aspect of the business that I am no longer involved in.” she shook her head. “My longtime customers know that. Don’t worry David, if I'm sleeping with you I'm not sleeping with anyone else. I understand your concern but you don’t have to be. Sometimes I will go to events on a man’s arm though. 

“I'm working right now with an old friend to have a few older women part-time on the roster. It makes some of the older men more comfortable. Plus I have a few regulars who really just want someone to talk to and spend a little time with. It’s not always about sex. I'm not saying it never is, but it’s not always.”

“OK.”

“So you're OK with that?” Erin had never asked a man that before unless she was being paid to. She let the queasy feeling of losing her autonomy pass. That wasn’t what this was about.

“I'm OK with that.” He nodded.

“I need you to be sure, David. This is what I do. It’s not who I am but the reality of it often makes people uncomfortable.”

“I'm not uncomfortable, I promise.”

“Why?” she turned to him.

“We’ve had this conversation before.” He said.

“Let’s have it again please.”

“I think you just want to hear me say how crazy I am about you.”

“I just don’t want to get my heart broken.” Erin said. “It’s funny, you think when you're young that as soon as you're older everything will just miraculously fall into place. If only it were that easy.”

“You think you’ve made your mistakes and couldn’t possibly make the same one again.” Dave said. “Sometimes you do…you wash, rinse, and repeat for years.”

“I’ll just put it out there, if you hurt me I will kill you. I know a guy who can do it for a decent price.”

“Please Erin, hire an expensive hit man. You can afford it and you always get what you pay for.”

They both laughed, the tension of the moment temporarily dissipating as they decided to brush everything aside but the moment.

“A lot of people say I'm a hot-blooded Italian…hell, I say it sometimes. I feel so much, I bury my feelings a lot as well. I have to in my job or it would be impossible. I don’t want to bury my feelings when it comes to you. I don’t care what you do for a living. I only care about you.”

“There's always been men.” Erin ate the last of her hot dog. She was trying to stuff the words back down with the food but that wasn’t going to happen. It had only been three months; this thing with Dave wasn’t going to last. Was it? “Ever since I was a kid I've just been busy. 

“In school I was an athlete, I was captain of the debate team; I didn’t have time. There were dates and some boyfriends but most wanted to be the center of my attention. I couldn’t make that kind of commitment. And after school there was work. I was doing interpreting for a while, working with people seeking political asylum in the U.S.”

“What languages do you speak?” Dave asked. There was something else he didn’t know about her. It just made her more fascinating.

“Arabic, a little Urdu, Russian, Spanish, Hebrew, French, my German is rusty as hell, which bothers my father, conversational Mandarin, and a decent amount of Portuguese. Languages were my thing; I picked them up at an early age. I've pretty much been on the move since I learned to walk and talk. If I actually settle down, who knows…?”

“Why does everyone make it about settling? What an awful word. I don’t want to settle. I want to find someone to go on life’s adventures with. I want to find a woman who loves my dog. I want to find a woman who gets exciting about sky diving and fly fishing and watching specials on National Geographic Channel. 

“I want to find a woman who will argue about foreign policy and members of the Rolling Stones. I want to find a woman who loves me even when she wants to strangle me. I want to find a woman who won't leave when shit gets rough, because shit is always gonna get rough. No one in their right mind wants to settle. Compromise is a better word.”

“I’d have to make a hell of a lot of compromises with you.” Erin said.

“All the better to love me forever with.” He smiled.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

“The bucket is over there.” Dave pointed out in the darkness. “You can take it behind those bushes and do whatever you need to do. Toilet paper is there too.”

“Oh joy.” Erin sighed. She stood and stretched in front of the fire. “You owe me so big for this one, Rossi.”

“Peeing outside is freeing.”

“I'm sure it is if you can do it standing up. Some of us don’t have that equipment.”

“Do you want to have a beer when you get back, or call it a night?” Dave asked. “I bought that slightly hoity toity beer that you like.”

“I’ll see how I feel after squatting over a bucket.” Erin almost smiled. “Hold that thought.”

“I'm holding a lot of them as a matter of fact.”

Dave couldn’t help but smile as Erin did the same. She rolled her eyes and walked away. He opened up the cooler beside him and grabbed a beer. They had a great day together and Dave wanted to turn that into a great evening. 

He was actually hoping he could convince Erin to stay another night. Just the two of them, away from most of the world, was wonderful. It was jeans and dirt and boots and toasted hot dogs. It was Erin practically without makeup and Dave not caring if his hair wasn’t perfectly coiffed. This was a little slice of paradise.

“You’ve got a strangely adorable look on your face.” Erin said.

Dave just held out his hand for her. She took it, coming back and joining him on their log in front of the fire. He put his arm around her; Erin leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I like the quiet out here.” He whispered.

“Me too. Give me one of those beers, I think I want to stay up just a little bit longer. You know I have no idea what time it is and I don’t even care. We've got a camp fire...we can tell scary stories.”

“I know a couple of good ones.” Dave reached into the cooler and handed her a bottle of Stella Artois. “They could scare the pants off of you. Do you think you're ready?”

“Give me your hand again.” Erin laced her fingers through his. “I'm not a scaredy cat, David, I promise you. The rough stuff is a little easier to get through with the right person at your side. Damn, that sounded so cheesy.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t have a cheesy bone in my body. You should know that about me.”

“I like you cheesy. I like you any way you wanna be.”

“Tell me a story, Agent Rossi.”

***


End file.
